Google Search Just Got Much Better at Understanding Your Questions

Google Search is steadily becoming smarter, from voice search in 2008 to the Knowledge Graph in 2012. But now, the Google Search team is marking another milestone: it can tackle even more complex questions.

In a blog post, product manager Satyajeet Salgar talks about some of the nuanced advancements, which are actually a pretty big deal. In the broadest sense, Google is beginning to understand the meaning and semantics of your queries, which lets Google use its Knowledge Graph more reliably.

Google gives a few examples, like better understanding superlatives, dates in questions, and complex questions with many different parts to consider. Like the one above, for example. “Now we’re “growing up” just a little more,” writes Salgar. “We can now break down a query to understand the semantics of each piece, so we can get at the intent behind the entire question.”

Google Search is stupidly smart compared to its humble beginnings in the '90s, but there’s still much more to learn. Can't it just Google it? Oh. Yeah. No. [Google]